Keeping a Date with Artistic Destiny

Painter Dan Koon

Fate is a word that painter Dan Koon might not use in describing the sometimes winding and varied but always interesting path he followed to becoming a painter. Intelligent and analytical, with a strong belief in personal responsibility for the state of one's life, Dan nevertheless has, in recent years, found himself at last in a position to pursue a relationship with art that had beckoned from the sidelines since he was quite young.

Born in Detroit in 1948 and currently residing in the much warmer climes of Mountain View, California, art was never far from Dan's awareness.

Spicy, by artist Dan Koon
(FAR® ID #34938)

"My mother is an art lover and has natural talent. Her father was a painter and, though she was orphaned at a fairly young age, some of that ability was passed on to her. Like a lot of kids, I grew up with an interest in drawing cartoons, like air battles between the USAF and the Luftwaffe or Imperial Japan.

"I did well overall in school but my favorite subjects were always art classes and physical education. I always managed to take an art class in high school along with my other college prep courses."

Self Portrait with Tan, artist Dan Koon. (FAR® Registered Artist)

Dan attended and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in the seminal late 1960s, when, he says, "All hell was breaking loose at every turn. I was fortunate to be going to school at a time that was very stimulating as well as living in a golden age of music with its epicenter just across the bay in San Francisco."

Though his major was psychology, Dan took many basic art courses throughout college, sometimes overcoming unexpected obstacles. "I broke my wrist playing football in my first year. With a cast on my right hand, I couldn't grasp the charcoal sticks but finished the course left-handed and still got a B. Later I took a figure-drawing course from Elmer Bischoff, who was faculty at the time. He was a wonderfully warm man but I confess to not understanding a thing he said during group critiques.

"I was more into sculpture during college. I worked in a foundry after graduation, casting bronzes for another artist. I always had an itch to paint but never took the time to scratch it."

Reproduction of Vermeer's The Geographer, by artist Dan Koon. (FAR® ID #4784).

During these years, Dan became interested in different New Age movements like Transcendental Meditation and Scientology, and drifted away from art for many years. "But that itch to paint never went away, and I arrived at a place in my life many years later where I decided that it was time to scratch it."

He embarked on a self-taught journey of learning. His first canvases were impressive reproductions of old master paintings in a remarkable variety of genres and styles. But before long, he was creating original abstract works full of vibrant color and dimension.

Reproduction of Monet's Poplars, by artist Dan Koon.

Inspired by an Array of Artists

True to his inquisitive nature and eclectic taste, Dan has a diverse list of favorite painters.

"I admire many, many artists. Of the Old Masters, Rembrandt is, in my mind, the Master of them all. More modernly, Picasso, of course, and two other Catalan painters, Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró. I wonder why that area has produced so many great artists?

"Swedish artist Öyvind Fahlström was incredible, particularly his later works that dissect the way the world works politically and economically, and that are utterly descriptive of what is going on today. Another Swedish artist, Olle Westam, comes to mind. The fact is, I admire a hell of a lot of artists! Duchamp, Calder, Monet, Kandinsky, Hans Hoffman, Vermeer, Ingres - for me the list goes on and on. Basically, I admire any artist with a unique way of saying something."

Woman with Child, by artist Dan Koon.
(FAR® ID #4353)

Dan works mostly in acrylic and acrylic media, and lately has been exploring with water-based oils. When asked what he wants to accomplish with his art and why he creates the pieces he does, Dan is refreshingly frank. "Good question! Maybe there are a bunch of reasons. One, I'm trying to say something that I'm too incompetent a writer to say in prose or poetry and too unskilled to say in music. Two, I am fascinated by color and the creation of 3D illusion on a two dimensional surface. So, it's often fun for me. Three, I like the challenge of trying to create something that a person can get an aesthetic charge out of.

"Above all, it is fun creating something that has never existed before."

Dan's years of philosophical searching have given him some unique and intriguing ideas about art and painting.

"I like to think of a painting as something with a utilitarian value, like a toaster, which produces a piece of toast for you whenever you want it. I'd like to do paintings that give a person something every time they look at it. For me that seems more possible with abstract rather than representational imagery. Of course, that could just be my self-delusion talking, seeing as I have come to painting late and never developed the draughtsmanship skills needed for representational work.

All Hail M. Duchamp, by artist Dan Koon.
(FAR® ID #4780)

"One thing that appeals to me about painting is that there is no time involved. With other art forms, time is part of the deal. You can take paintings from different periods and hang them next to each other and appreciate them. It's next to impossible to appreciate Beowulf today because the language has changed so much. But you can look at an illuminated Bible from that period and it still blows your mind.

"There's a museum in Lund, Sweden, in the southern part of the country. It's called the Museum of Sketches and it is crammed with preliminary color renderings of murals, maquettes of sculptures and sketches of other works. There is an emphasis on Scandinavian artists, as you might imagine, but it has Matisses and Henry Moores and Mexican muralists in there as well.

"These sketches, some full size, cover the walls, floor to ceiling, and there is a certain unfinished aspect to most of them that conveys something of that Big Bang feeling that occurs at the beginning of the creation of a work of art.

"In some cases, these 'sketches' are more appealing than the finished work, some of which seem dead by comparison. Harold Speed wrote a book called The Practice and Science of Drawing, in which he brought up the concept of 'dither' in a work of art. He says there has to be some free play in a work of art or else it won't live. As an example, he says that an automobile engine won't function if there isn't some free play between the moving parts. I try to remain aware of that in my work. Some might say that it's all dither, but what the hell!"

Baroque Entrance to Heaven, by artist Dan Koon.

The Advantages of Fine Art Registry®

Dan was introduced to Fine Art Registry® in 2006. He had reconnected with a friend he hadn't seen in many years who told him about FAR® when he found out Dan had taken up painting.

As soon as he learned about FAR, Dan purchased his first set of tags and began tagging and registering his work. Now he routinely tags and registers each piece when it is sold.

The advantages are very apparent to him. "It's great to have a record of everything I've sold. The owner knows there will always be a record. If someday paintings go onto the secondary market, people will have a record of ownership and authenticity."

Early on, Dan was introduced to FAR CEO Theresa Franks, who was captivated by his paintings. "My first sales were to Fine Art Registry founder Teri Franks. She saw some of my work courtesy of our mutual friend and liked it and bought several pieces. It was a tremendous validation and a huge encouragement. I know Teri is very supportive of emerging artists but she probably doesn't realize the boost it gave me. I'm forever indebted to her for that."

Dan has sold between 30 and 40 pieces, since joining FAR, including a number of commissioned portraits via online advertising on Craigslist. "Even in this down economy, people still want portraits of themselves or loved ones." Every piece he has sold has been tagged with a patented Fine Art Registry tag and registered in the FAR database.

"I feel very fortunate to have connected with FAR. Teri and all the people at FAR are wonderful. Teri in particular has bitten off quite a bit in taking on some of the criminality that exists in the art world. The kind of things that go on don't really affect emerging artists like myself but I can sense that she's doing a tremendous service for artists and collectors and ultimately, the entire field of art."

Nothingness Creates the World, by artist Dan Koon.
(FAR® ID #4791)

Marketing, Bartering and Generating Sales

"I haven't put much attention on marketing my work, which is a definite shortcoming. I've have my Fine Art Registry gallery, of course, and have posted some work on different sites. Everything I've sold is tagged and registered with FAR.

"I've mainly sold it on Craigslist. I've put up ads offering services and people contacted me and we work out what they want and for what price and take it from there. Networking also has started to work well. I've gotten two commissions in the past week on Facebook. I mainly use it to stay in touch with friends and that's what I consider the real wealth in my life. But it's beginning to pay off in other ways.

"I have bartered paintings for things I needed and that went well. Someone has promised to do a website for me in exchange for a painting. I've put my work on a couple other sites in addition to Fine Art Registry and that has resulted in some sales. Obviously, exposure means a lot and the social networking tools developed in recent years lower the cost of gaining it."

6144 Series, by artist Dan Koon.

New Directions and the Future

Dan is currently working on a new group of bold, abstract paintings. "It's four individual modules that can be combined differently. By my figuring, you can make 6144 different arrangements, so I call it the 6144 Series. The individual modules also work displayed by themselves."

Dan admits he doesn't have a clearly defined plan for the future, except that it will be devoted to art. "Someday I'd like to be able to support myself solely from painting. I'd like to be able to do it full time and see where it leads. I'd like to get to a point where I do paintings that I'm really pleased with and that others are pleased with too.

"At that point, the rest would take care of itself."

And Fine Art Registry will be there every step of the way. See Dan's Fine Art Registry gallery here.

Artist's FAR Registered Pieces | Entire FAR Portfolio › | Sales Gallery › | Biography ›

— by Fine Art Registry®  |  December 1, 2009  |  Print Version - PDF

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